The sky had completely darkened.
On a windless, waveless night, all around, besides the boundless darkness, there was only the endless sound of the wind.
On the sea surface.
A large turtle carried a young man in a wrinkled suit, slowly moving forward.
The waves gently lapped against the Little Turtle's shell, and a yo-yo hung above the Little Turtle's head, emitting a faint green glow, serving as illumination.
The surrounding area was all lit up in fluorescent green.
It looked quite eerie.
Chen Mo, the man in the wrinkled suit, sat in the smoothest spot in the center of the turtle's back.
After a day of hard work, Master Chen finally reached the time to enjoy his dinner.
He opened the military-green box in front of him.
Inside the box were neatly arranged five dark brown vacuum-sealed compressed biscuits, five heavy tin cans, three silver-packaged strips of mint chewing gum, and a standard blue drinking water bucket.
Chen Mo tore open the compressed biscuit package and took a bite; the texture was very hard, yet crumbly, like chewing a brick mixed with sawdust, quite choking, and could only be swallowed with mineral water.
Although it tasted bad, the long-awaited feeling of fullness in his stomach and the slow return of warmth as his physical strength recovered still made Chen Mo let out a comfortable sigh.
The joy of delayed gratification was fully realized at this moment.
He leaned against the Little Turtle's curled tail, which resembled a large Swiss roll.
He ate compressed biscuits while peeking at the screen.
Regional Channel (Huaguo Sea Area 101, All Anonymous Mode)
The sea at night is so scary, pitch black, I hope I don't get snatched by a sea monster in the middle of my sleep.
I know you're scared, but don't be scared yet, because I'm scared too.
What's there to be scared of! As long as the tsunami doesn't catch up, tomorrow will be another day of salvaging boxes! Let's go!
Wuwuwu, no one told me there would be sharks at night!
I was so scared!
Me too! I just fell asleep and was jolted awake, I got up and looked, thankfully it was a shark, I thought it was a ghost!
Hanging a torch at the bow of the boat can effectively drive away sharks! I just discovered this; this broken system doesn't tell you the descriptions of many key items at all, you have to figure it out yourself!
Then I'm finished, I didn't even get a lighter during the day!
Is it still too late for me to start a fire by rubbing sticks together TAT
It's useless; the flints I salvaged only work during the day, there's a debuff at night, they won't light at all!
Then isn't that a BBQ.
Don't worry, I can responsibly tell everyone that I've observed carefully, sharks appear about once every 3-4 hours, and each time they appear, they'll gnaw off one unit of your boat's floor, theoretically, as long as your boat is larger than four units, you can sleep until morning.
Then wake up to find a boat turned into a single plank, 'National Navigation Explodes into Raft Survival' (Global Sailing Extreme Raft Survival)?
Hahahahaha, what the heck is 'National Navigation Explodes into Raft Survival', you're so funny hahahahaha, oh, you ask why I'm laughing? Because I was born on a plank of wood!!!
Sure enough, satisfaction is something that comes from comparison.
Looking at the bittersweet comments in the regional channel, Chen Mo felt that besides being a bit hungry, his vehicle didn't seem to have any other shortcomings.
Rather, it had all advantages besides that.
It combined high appearance, emotional stability, stable navigation, and being friendly.
On the shark problem that plagued everyone—
Backed by the divine beast Xuanwu, he hadn't even clearly seen what a shark looked like on this journey.
He only saw the fleeing shark fins.
After finishing a compressed biscuit and drinking some water, Chen Mo closed the chat channel.
Now it was time to really start scavenging.
Due to the limitation of stamina, most competitors could only work for eight hours; after their stamina dropped to 20, they would enter a state of severe fatigue, making it difficult to continue working, and could only rely on sleep to slowly recover.
But Chen Mo was different.
He could work sixteen hours a day!
Sixteen hours of work, four hours of free activity, four hours of rest, a perfect closed-loop work process!
This was—
The power of the Born-to-Work Holy Body!
It was also fortunate that he drew this vehicle, otherwise, who would have that much energy to fish for eight hours during the day and then scavenge for eight hours at night?
Chen Mo was quite proud.
As if sensing Chen Mo's emotions, the Little Turtle also proudly raised its head.
"Awoo!"
Chen Mo put the items on the turtle shell back into his package, looked at his almost full personal backpack, and decided on the three things he needed to do tonight.
First, make a fishing net, as this was a necessary condition for salvaging beginner supplies. Although he wasn't short on food now, who would complain about having too many supplies?
Next, make a place to sleep. Sleeping directly on the turtle's back wasn't impossible, but what if not sleeping in a bed didn't restore stamina, then Chen Mo would be dumbfounded tomorrow.
Finally, make a storage box. Otherwise, tomorrow evening's trash, oh no, fish catch, wouldn't fit.
Chen Mo opened the technology panel to study it.
"A driftwood platform requires 4 units of plastic and 8 wooden planks, a storage box requires 10 wooden planks and 4 hemp ropes. 1 wooden plank requires 3 rotten logs, 1 hemp rope requires 4 palm leaves, hiss."
"That's not a small amount."
Chen Mo looked at the sea.
The yo-yo's illumination range was larger than expected, about three meters in diameter, and every now and then, one or two floating objects would drift by. Although the efficiency of scavenging was not as good as during the day, at least he could still scavenge.
"Let's do it first!"
Chen Mo no longer hesitated, reaching out to retrieve the materials that happened to drift near the turtle's back. For those further away, he used a fishing rod to hook them. When he had collected enough materials, he crafted the first fishing net of his seafaring career on the technology panel.
The fishing net was 1.5 meters long, perfectly covering the entire illuminated area. So, for the next eight hours, Chen Mo was like a merciless trash-collecting machine.
Rotten logs? Retrieve!
Palm leaves? Retrieve!
Soggy rope knots? Retrieve!
Waterlogged wooden box? That's exactly what I'm retrieving!
Chen Mo effortlessly retrieved the wooden box marked 30kg, and in addition to the various materials decomposed from the wooden box, he also obtained today's beginner supply box.
Inside was an arm-length fresh milk bread, an apple, and a bottle of mineral water.
Compared to his fellow sailors in the region, his luck was quite good, but compared to the food stored in his backpack, it was only better than nothing.
The Little Turtle turned its head at this moment, its eyes sparkling as it looked at the apple in Chen Mo's hand.
"You want to eat this?"
"Awoo!"
Chen Mo barely hesitated, tossing the apple to the Little Turtle:
"Catch!"
The Little Turtle opened its mouth, caught the apple steadily, and a crisp chewing sound came from its mouth.
Its expression of deliciousness changed from 0v0 to ^▽^.
Chen Mo knew very well.
The Little Turtle was his reliance for sailing on this sea.
As long as it didn't want to eat him.
Anything it ate was not too much!
After taking a few sips of water to replenish his thirst, Chen Mo started working again.
He kept salvaging until his stamina was almost depleted, and Chen Mo finally gathered all the necessary materials.
In addition, he also salvaged a few waterlogged wires, two waterlogged batteries, a few stones, a dozen rusty iron nails, and some broken furniture.
He opened the technology panel and first selected the most basic wooden platform, then clicked craft.
With a flash of white light, a standard square driftwood platform immediately appeared behind the Little Turtle.
The platform's surface area was about the size of the cargo bed of a three-wheeled motorcycle, and it seemed to have been waxed, looking very smooth. It was connected to the Little Turtle's shell by four thick hemp ropes. Chen Mo walked a few steps on it, and it was even more stable than sitting directly on the turtle's back.
Chen Mo then selected the simple sleeping bag and storage box and clicked craft.
The next moment, a bed made of palm leaves and a simple, slender wooden storage box appeared in the most suitable positions on the driftwood platform.
The driftwood came with a half-person-high fence, so there was no need to worry about items sliding into the sea.
Chen Mo surveyed the 'human nest' in front of him, which finally looked somewhat decent, and nodded with satisfaction.
Then, with a sense of ceremony, he changed into the fashionable beach four-piece set temporarily used as pajamas.
To prevent starving in his sleep, he opened a can of fruit cocktail, ensuring his hunger and thirst levels were above the safety line, before lying down on the cool palm leaf bed.
The sea breeze was still icy cold and biting.
But with food in his stomach, fresh water and a medical kit stocked in the storage box, and more importantly, that white tsunami line behind him, like a death warrant, seemed to have truly moved a little further away.
Fatigue washed over him like a tide, and Chen Mo instantly fell into a deep sleep.
The next day.
When the first pale ray of dawn pierced the horizon, Chen Mo suddenly opened his eyes.
He shot up into a sitting position.
He was going to be late!
He subconsciously looked towards where his alarm clock should be, and only after seeing the vast sea did he realize.
Oh, right, the company was submerged by the sea.
He didn't have to go to work anymore.
The string that had just tightened relaxed again, Chen Mo stretched, his bones cracking.
"Morning, Little Turtle!"
"Awoo~"
Chen Mo stepped off the platform with his fishing rod and sat back on the protruding turtle's back.
He summoned the system page.
Regional Weather Broadcast
Time: Standard Time 08:00
Temperature: 22°C
Today's Recommendation: Calm seas, suitable for sailing, salvaging, fishing.
Survivor: Chen Mo
Status: Relatively healthy.
Stamina: 100/100
Spirit: 80/100
Energy: 20/100
Hydration: 15/100
Oh, he knew why he felt dizzy when he woke up.
Chen Mo calmly pulled out the sunglasses from his fashionable beach four-piece set and put them on, then brought out the food box and started eating compressed biscuits with water. After finishing, seeing that his hunger and thirst levels still had some leeway, he opened another can of fruit cocktail.
Disclaimer: it wasn't because he was craving it.
Sweet syrup soaked a few soft pieces of fruit, and the long-lost sweetness invigorated Chen Mo.
The Little Turtle, smelling the sweet scent of the fruit, also turned its head, its eyes sparkling.
Chen Mo: "..."
The result was that most of one can of fruit cocktail went into the Little Turtle's stomach, and he was full from drinking the syrup.
But seeing the Little Turtle happily shaking its head, Chen Mo was also influenced by its mood, and an unconscious, fatherly smile appeared on his face.
Oh, right.
He wondered how the bloodline upgrade from yesterday had turned out.
Chen Mo opened the vehicle panel and took a look.
First, a line of large characters popped up.
Mythical Bloodline Activated Successfully! Core Skills Unlocked!
He raised an eyebrow, then looked further down:
Vehicle: Xuanwu (Juvenile Stage)
Quality: Mythical (Unique)
Status: Hungry
Current Speed: 15 knots!
Skills
New: Gui Xu Submersible (Lv.1)
Active: Consumes 5% of existing hunger, dives into shallow sea, and actively deploys a Protective Barrier to isolate seawater and ensure oxygen supply. Duration: 5 minutes.
New: Protective Barrier (Lv.1)
Passive: Turtle shell base defense increased by 100%, effectively resisting small sea beast collisions, harsh weather, and ordinary physical attacks.
Active: Consumes 10% of existing hunger, instantly generates an energy shield covering the entire vehicle outside the turtle shell, lasting 10 minutes, capable of completely blocking one powerful impact (such as large sea beast bites, storm giant waves, powerful long-range shots, etc.). The shield disappears after successfully blocking an attack.
Cooldown: No cooldown.
Description: The protective power from Xuanwu's original shell has awakened, as solid as a rock!
Seeing this panel, Chen Mo suddenly sat up straight.
His heart pounded with excitement!